I wanted to organize all of the information that has come out about the Big Ten Tournament that will take place Saturday and Sunday. We all know that the Big Ten is loaded at every weight and several weights are unreal. When I added in the national rankings to the Pre-Seeds, it will leave you shaking your head at how tough the Big Ten really is.
In nine of the ten weights in Division I wrestling, the #1 ranked wrestlers in the country is from the Big Ten. That has to be a record.
When you have nationally ranked wrestlers facing off in the first round of a 14-man bracket, you have a tough tournament. Four of the ten weights in the Big Tens will have the #1 and #2 ranked wrestler in the country and two of those weights will have the #1-2-3 ranked wrestlers in the country. Impressive.
Maybe the best part of the Big Ten Championships is that the entire conference will be under one roof for two days and we will find out who the best is. Dual meets are great to follow along with what the Big Ten has, but there is nothing like this tournament to bring everyone together for some great competition.
Every weight class in the Big Ten is loaded with nationally ranked wrestlers. Everyone is talking about 133 and for good reason. 157 and 165 are also wayyyy loaded. The weights that have the most questions for me is 184 and Hwt. I have no idea how they came up with the seeds at 184. There is no way that Shakur Rasheed of Penn State should be #2 at 184. Hopefully that will be fixed for the final bracket.
Somehow the Big Ten only gets seven automatic NCAA qualifiers at Hwt. Youssif Hemida of Maryland is ranked #10 in the country, and did not make the Big Ten Pre-Seeds that goes to seed #8. I would think that at least one of the at-large qualifiers of the 44 the NCAA is selecting will come from Hwt in the Big Ten.
From HawkeyeSports.com:
After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 44 at-large qualifiers. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
It is always an anxious time waiting to see who gets the at-large bids. There will also be additional changes to the brackets as wrestlers pull out of the NCAA Tournament due to injury. When that happens, the selection committee will then choose a replacement.
*Just a reminder that this is only the Big Ten Pre-Seeds. The official brackets will be released on Friday afternoon after the Big Ten Conference coaches meeting.
Big Ten Conference:
Weight – # of automatic NCAA Qualifiers
125 – 9
133 – 8
141 – 9
149 – 6
157 – 9
165 – 9
174 – 8
184 – 8
197 – 5
Hwt – 7
Total – 78
2019 Big Ten Wrestling Championships: Allocations, Pre-Seeds, and National Ranking by Flo
125 lbs. – 9 NCAA Qualifiers
- Sebastian Rivera, NU – #1
- Spencer Lee, IOWA – #3
- Sean Russell, MINN – #6
- RayVon Foley, MSU – #11
- Travis Piotrowski, ILL – #12
- Drew Mattin, MICH – #13
- Zeke Moisey, NEB – #14
- Malik Heinselman, OSU
- Devin Schroder, PUR – #20
- Elijah Oliver, IND – #18
- Brandon Cray, MD
- Devin Schnupp, PSU
- Shane Metzler, RU
- Ethan Rotondo, WIS1
133 lbs. – 8 NCAA Qualifiers
- Stevan Micic, MICH – #1
- Austin DeSanto, IOWA – 3
- Nick Suriano, RU – #4
- Roman Bravo-Young, PSU – #9
- Luke Pletcher, OSU – #10
- Ethan Lizak, MINN – #6
- Ben Thornton, PUR – #16
- Dylan Duncan, ILL
- Anthony Tutolo, MSU
- Colin Valdiviez, NU
- Jens Lantz, WIS
- Paul Konrath, IND
- Jevon Parrish, NEB
- Orion Anderson, MD
141 lbs. – 9 NCAA Qualifiers
- Michael Carr, ILL – #5
- Nick Lee, PSU – #2
- Joey McKenna, OSU – #3
- Tristan Moran, WIS – #8
- Kanen Storr, MICH – #7
- Mitch McKee, MINN – #9
- Max Murin, IOWA
- Chad Red, NEB
- Pete Lipari, RU
- Nate Limmex, PUR
- Kyle Luigs, IND
- Austin Eicher, MSU
- Danny Bertoni, MD
- Alec McKenna, NU
149 lbs. – 6 NCAA Qualifiers
- Anthony Ashnault, RU – #1
- Micah Jordan, OSU – #2
- Pat Lugo, IOWA – #8
- Thomas Thorn, MINN
- Cole Martin, WIS – #13
- Brady Berge, PSU – #14
- Shayne Oster, NU
- Malik Amine, MICH
157 lbs. – 9 NCAA Qualifiers
- Jason Nolf, PSU – #1
- Tyler Berger, NEB – #2
- Ryan Deakin, NU – #3
- Alec Pantaleo, MICH – #5
- Kaleb Young, IOWA – #7
- Steve Bleis, MINN – #10
- Ke-Shawn Hayes, OSU – #8
- Eric Barone, ILL – #9
- Griffin Parriott, PUR – #16
- John Van Brill, RU – #17
- Jake Danishek, IND – #18
- Jake Tucker, MSU – #19
- Garret Model, WIS
- Alex Whitesell, MD
165 lbs. – 9 NCAA Qualifiers
- Vincenzo Joseph, PSU – #1
- Alex Marinelli, IOWA – #2
- Evan Wick, WIS – #3
- Isaiah White, NEB – #6
- Logan Massa, MICH – #7
- Te’Shawn Campbell, OSU
- Bryce Martin, IND
- Carson Brolsma, MINN
- Joseph Gunter, ILL – #18
- Tyler Morland, NU
- Phillip Spadafora, MD
- Stephan Glasgow, RU
- Austin Hiles, MSU
- Cole Wysocki, PUR
174 lbs. – 8 NCAA Qualifiers
- Mark Hall, PSU – #1
- Myles Amine, MICH – #4
- Dylan Lydy, PUR – #12
- Mikey Labriola, NEB – #9
- Devin Skatzka, MINN – #13
- Ethan Smith, OSU – #14
- Ryan Christensen, WIS
- Drew Hughes, MSU – #18
- Joe Grello, RU
- Mitch Bowman, IOWA
- Carver James, ILL
- Jake Covaciu, IND
- Josh Ugalde, MD
- Braxton Cody, NU
184 lbs. – 8 NCAA Qualifiers
- Myles Martin, OSU – #1
- Shakur Rasheed, PSU – #7
- Tyler Venz, NEB – #4
- Emery Parker, ILL – #8
- Cash Wilcke, IOWA – #15
- Mason Reinhardt, WIS
- Jelani Embree, MICH – #18
- Max Lyon, PUR
- Nick Gravina, RU
- Cameron Caffey, MSU
- Norman Conley, IND
- Brandon Krone, MINN
- Kyle Jasenski, MD
- Brendan Devine, NU
197 lbs. – 5 NCAA Qualifiers
- Bo Nickal, PSU – #1
- Kollin Moore, OSU – 2
- Jacob Warner, IOWA – #5
- Christian Brunner, PUR – #10
- Eric Schultz, NEB – #12
- Jackson Striggow, MICH
- Dylan Anderson, MINN
- Brad Wilton, MSU
285 lbs. – 7 NCAA Qualifiers
- Gable Steveson, MINN – #1
- Anthony Cassar, PSU – #3
- Mason Parris, MICH – #9
- Trent Hilger, WIS – #6
- Chase Singletary, OSU – #11
- Conan Jennings, NU – #8
- David Jensen, NEB – #12
- Sam Stoll, IOWA – #7
The Big Tens cannot start soon enough.
It is great to be an iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
